Regional Disparity in Cropping Intensity and Relative Impact of Irrigation in Haryana

Abstract

Agricultural development ofa state can be obtained through intensifying the crops at limited area. Higher cropping intensity indicates maximum area is cropped more than once. The presentstudy is an attempt to analyse district wise performance in intensity of cropping in Haryana. Further the impact of irrigation on cropping intensity is analysed. The data is taken from various issues of Statistical Abstracts of Haryana. Appropriate statistical tools i.e. average; variance and simple linear regression are used for analysis of data. Variations were found among the districts in terms of cropping intensity.Panipat and Karnal districtwerehighest performers in intensifying crops while Gurgaon,Jhajjar and Rewari were the poor one.Moderate performance was observed in Fatehabad and Sirsa district. This variability may exist due to rainfall, irrigation facilities, environmental and agro climatic differences in the regions and adoption of modern agricultural techniques. Irrigation facility is found to have significant impact on cropping intensity across the districts. Hence it is found to be a good predictor of cropping intensity. Thus improved irrigation facilities will enhance the cropping intensity as well.